


big and strong

by blacksandunderstars



Category: Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Parenthood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-03
Updated: 2018-01-03
Packaged: 2019-02-27 13:37:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13249326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blacksandunderstars/pseuds/blacksandunderstars
Summary: . . . in which Rost is reminded of how much time has passed in the wilds . . .





	big and strong

“Just gotta climb up there and get it,” said Rost, clapping his hands and rubbing them together.

The words had left his mouth before he really had a chance to think about them. And Aloy was halfway up the cottonwood tree before he realized what she was doing. He opened his mouth to yell at her, but there was no point in it now; she was nearly to the dove’s corpse already. Besides, he didn’t want to startle her and risk breaking her concentration.

Aloy deftly clambered up to the last branch, which she held onto with one hand while swinging out for the arrow. Rost held his breath as he watched her grab the shaft, pluck it free of the wood—with the bird still skewered on it—and toss it down to him. He caught it, then nervously observed her progress back to the ground.

She dropped the last few feet, landing hard in the leaves and loose soil of the forest floor below.

Rost frowned at her. She hadn’t even needed a boost up.

“What?” she said, lips curling into a smirk. Her hazel eyes twinkled with mischief.

“Shouldn’t’ve left your things unattended like that,” he chided, indicating with a nod of his head to the bow and quiver she’d left on the ground.

Aloy scooped them up. “Sorry,” she said. But she still wore that confident smirk.

Sighing, Rost pulled the arrow out of the dove’s breast and handed it back to Aloy. Then he tucked the bird in his pouch. “Come on, let’s get back. I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry.”

She raced off. He followed. They hiked in silence for some time, taking one of the many footpaths which snaked through this stretch of high conifer forest. Occasionally the canopy opened enough to give a view of the Embrace off to their left, far below them and half shrouded in low-lying clouds.

“Did I do something wrong?” said Aloy, eventually. “Other than leave my gear, I mean.” She was still walking ahead of Rost, so he couldn’t see her expression. But her voice had a nervous edge to it.

Rost grumbled quietly behind his beard. She was always doing that these days—noticing things. An eagle’s eyes and a hare’s hearing, and that head of hers always at work, thinking about every damn thing.

Which was exactly what he wanted, even if it was frustrating sometimes.

“No, girl, you didn’t,” he said gruffly. “I’m just . . . not used to you being big enough to climb the tall trees. Sometimes I forget how much you’ve grown.”

And sometimes, he added to himself, I forget how long we’ve been out here together. Too long. And not for much longer, I think.

Aloy looked back over her shoulder at him, smiling, her freckled cheeks red with exertion and the cold mountain air. “Big and strong, right?”

He grinned at her and held a fist to his chest, flexing his arm muscles just like he used to do back when she was barely tall enough to hug his leg. It’d always made her laugh. “Big and strong.”

**Author's Note:**

> Finally got to start playing Horizon, which has been a great way to start a new year, and so far many feelings have been had, some of which have been written down already, with others perhaps to follow if All-Mother is willing.


End file.
